Chapter 29
Lytton felt as if he were possessed by a ghost.
That sensation didn’t fade while Elric inflicted wounds and bruises upon his own body, hacked the Blade Wolves to pieces, and crushed all the neatly severed trees in the vicinity.
It was the same afterward.
“Then let us part ways here. I shall be waiting at the cabin.”
Even after Elric spoke those words and disappeared back the way they came with a limp, Lytton remained dazed.
A throbbing ache pounded through his entire body.
His crumpled armor made every movement uncomfortable.
The moment he endured the pain and returned to the village—
“Sir Knight!!!”
Only at the sound of the hunters’ voices did Lytton finally regain his senses to some degree.
“Ah…”
“You’re alive! But your condition…”
Lytton gave an awkward smile as the leader of the hunters looked at him with a face on the verge of tears.
Admittedly, without a mirror, he couldn’t check his face, but looking down, his body was in a state that suggested he had just fought a war.
Wondering how he should make an excuse, Lytton eventually replied.
“It is nothing.”
“Nothing? Your injuries are so severe! Mo-more importantly, what about the monster? We did request reinforcements, but…”
“I took care of them. The Blade Wolves.”
Snap. The hunters froze.
Expressions of awe, beyond mere surprise, began to settle on their faces.
“B-Blade Wolves…”
“Those are high-tier monsters. And you said there were several of them…”
“As expected of a knight…”
The murmuring wasn’t limited to the hunters.
Even the village residents began to look at Lytton as if he were some kind of monster himself.
Lytton scratched his head, having no way to explain what had actually happened.
What came to mind was Elric’s single strike.
That unfathomable technique that he could neither perceive nor react to.
‘Come to think of it, he wasn’t even holding a sword.’
Then, with his cane? But was it possible to cut so cleanly with a cane?
No, setting that aside, how had Elric become so strong?
Certainly, even ten years ago, he had been exceptionally strong among the village children.
But it wasn’t to the extent that he felt like a sprout who would one day use such nonsensical techniques.
Lytton grew confused, then eventually gave up on thinking.
He simply looked up at the sky with a broad grin.
‘As expected of the Boss.’
Once he stopped thinking, he finally felt relieved.
Yes, whatever the case, the matter was resolved, so all was well.
As Lytton set aside his internal turmoil, the murmuring crowd shared their own thoughts.
“Blade Wolves? Those monsters with blades on their claws?”
“A human beat them? And several at that?”
“S-Sword Breaker! Sword Breaker Lytton!”
Sword Breaker Lytton.
That awe-filled moniker began to echo quietly, starting from this village tucked away in a corner of Wibin.
It was several hours later when Elric and Tiria were rescued.
The villagers led a snow sled up the valley and brought the Portman couple, who had been sheltering in the cabin, back to the village.
It was a public secret that Aldio, who had come running after hearing the news late, embraced Elric with a face drenched in tears.
Back at the Portman manor.
“The Madam’s fever is quite high. It seems she will need to recuperate for a while.”
“I understand. I’ll stay a bit longer before I head out, so go tend to your duties.”
“Yes, Master.”
Aldio bowed and exited Tiria’s room.
Elric stared silently at Tiria as she lay in bed.
His expression was complicated.
Half of him was filled with worry, the other half with anger at her reckless behavior.
A firm resolve began to take root: when she opened her eyes, he would definitely have words with her about this.
It was while he was letting out a deep sigh.
Elric’s gaze eventually began to scan her room.
‘It’s sparse.’
The room was so simply furnished that one could tell at a glance that Tiria hadn’t brought in many new items over the past ten years.
A bed, a shelf, a single bookshelf, and a side door.
Behind that must be the dressing room.
Reflecting on it, this was his first time entering her room, which brought about a sense of novelty and a touch of awkwardness.
With those thoughts, Elric looked at her again.
Her face, which was usually so white it was almost pale, was flushed red.
Cold sweat seemed to be trickling down, and her breathing was heavy.
Elric gently dabbed her forehead with a handkerchief.
Every time he did, her scowling face relaxed slightly; the reaction was so comical given the situation that Elric let out a small laugh.
“You’ve truly been through quite an ordeal.”
Of all things, five Blade Wolves had appeared, and he had ended up running down the mountain without a thought for his knees.
Thanks to that, his recovering knees were damaged again.
In addition to the recovery period being extended, his knees now throbbed even while he was just sitting still, just like when he was first injured.
It was a troubling matter.
“It is truly troubling. Very… much so.”
It was troubling because he found himself feeling relieved that his injuries provided an excuse to stay here longer.
“I feel as if I am becoming a very shameless man.”
Before he knew it, Elric’s hand had stopped.
“I find myself growing increasingly accustomed to life here. I find it so agreeable that I feel refreshed every morning.”
It was at that moment.
Tiria’s body flinched, and then her eyes slowly fluttered open.
Elric’s eyes widened.
“Wife… Urgh!”
Forgetting the state of his knees, he tried to stand up abruptly, only to stagger from the pain.
Grimacing, Elric steadied himself and checked on Tiria.
“…Hmm?”
Her eyes were unfocused and hazy as they gazed into empty space.
She blinked several times before turning her gaze toward him.
Their eyes met, and Tiria fumbled to grasp Elric’s index finger.
He couldn’t feel even a hint of strength in her grip.
“Wife…?”
“…”
Tiria stared silently at the finger she held, then curled her body and pulled Elric’s hand toward her.
Startled, Elric was pulled along according to her will.
His hand ended up held tightly against Tiria’s chest.
Wondering what on earth was happening, he observed her further, only to find she had immediately closed her eyes and fallen back into a deep sleep.
Elric let out a hollow laugh.
“So you were the type who needed something to hold while sleeping.”
Tiria’s complexion looked much more peaceful.
After confirming that Tiria was completely asleep, Elric headed to the office.
While she rested, he would have to look after the affairs of the manor.
Since he had learned a thing or two, he was capable of handling simple tasks, and he had just spread out the documents.
The moment he saw his hand holding the pen, Elric was suddenly seized by a different thought.
It was inevitable that his concentration would drift once he started working.
‘Has my intuition dulled a bit?’
Elric recalled the moment he dealt with the Blade Wolves in the snowy mountains.
‘I feel like I could have cut them more cleanly.’
He had overlooked it at the time due to the urgency, but thinking back, he felt he had become more clumsy at controlling mana than when he was on the battlefield.
After all, his original intention was to neatly slice only the Blade Wolves while avoiding the surrounding trees.
He hadn’t been looking with his eyes, and he hadn’t been holding a sword, but those weren’t really the issues.
In the first place, it was a technique where mana was forged like a blade and emitted around the body, so a sword wasn’t even necessary.
Elric frowned.
The cause was identified immediately.
‘My bloodlust has diminished.’
The Sword Realm is a method of keeping mana under control using sharply honed bloodlust.
Unlike general mana cultivation methods, the further one moves away from bloodlust, the harder it becomes to control mana.
It wasn’t a concept of the total amount of mana or power decreasing.
Rather, one loses precision because they cannot regulate the amount of mana being emitted.
In other words, if he were to step onto a battlefield like this, a disaster could occur where he sweeps away allies and enemies alike in one go.
In fact, back when he struggled to control his bloodlust, there were many instances where he wiped out his own allies in the middle of the battlefield.
There were several grudges held against him because of that.
He needed to be cautious.
If he continued like this, he might cause the same kind of accident again.
‘Should I do some rehabilitation training…?’
Even as he thought it, he found himself hesitating.
The pastoral atmosphere of Wibin had made him soft.
Returning to the battlefield.
Every time he recalled that premise, the hesitation that arose grew deeper by the day.
“Whew…”
Elric let out a sigh.
It was at that moment he heard a knock.
“Young Master.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Sir Lytton says he wishes to give his regards before he returns to his post.”
He was leaving already?
Elric stood up in surprise.
“I’ll be right there!”
Thump. He leaned on his cane and left the office.
He headed straight for the drawing room.
“Ah! Boss, you’re here?”
Lytton greeted him with a boisterous laugh.
However, Elric couldn’t bring himself to smile.
“Hmm? Why the long face?”
The playfully grinning Lytton was covered in bruises from head to toe, looking as if he had been beaten with a club.
It was Elric’s doing.
‘…Should I have gone a bit easier on him?’
A sudden pang of guilt surged within him.
